Cake #26 - Haggis

Tuesday Humour Cake - Haggis.



On the eve of the Scottish independence referendum I am sitting at my dining room table in Ireland and enjoying a piece of Haggis. Which is actually this ugly cake I made of sweet bun dough, Nutella and nuts. 

I have enjoyed real Haggis in Edinburgh some years ago and it was delicious. At a restaurant on the Royal Mile the Haggis, together with neeps and tatties - turnip and potato - was neatly put on my plate and probably had never been even close to a sheep's stomach. A tourist version, clearly, but still delicious.

Whatever the voting result in Scotland is, something will change in the United Kingdom as a nation and in people's minds. Chain reactions expected? Will Northern Ireland be the next?

I am not taking sides in this but I can easily visualise a map in my mind. On that map the independent Scotland has cast off the rest of Britain and is floating on the Atlantic Ocean. The winds will then decide where it will end up...

Haggis Cake

300 ml lukewarm milk

25 g fresh yeast (or 1 bag / 7 g fast action dried yeast)

100 ml sugar

½ tsp salt

1 egg

100 g melted butter

about 800 ml plain flour

200 g Nutella

100 g chopped nuts

1 egg

1 egg for glazing

(silver food colouring)

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk.

2. Add sugar,salt and egg and mix well.

3. Start adding flour gradually.

4. After you have kneaded in about half of the flour, add melted butter.

5. Knead in more flour until your dough is not sticky any more but still soft. It is better to leave the dough a little too soft than make it too dense as the cake will be too dry and hard after baking.

6. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until double in size, for about half an hour.

7. Preheat the oven to 200C / 390F.
8. Mix together Nutella, nuts and egg.
9. Roll dough into an oval shape, about 10 mm thick.
10. Spread the Nutella filling in the middle.
11. Roll the cake carefully into a sausage shape and make "knots" in boths ends.
12. Let the cake rise for about half an hour.
13. When risen, cut a hole in the middle of the cake so that part of the filling can be seen.
14. Glaze the "Haggis" with egg and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
15. When cooled down, brush the "knots" with silver food colouring.
16. Listen to bagpipe music and have a slice of Haggis with your Scottish Blend (tea, that is)!

My Haggis Cake turned up too flat. I expected it to rise more in the oven but it didn't. The shape should have been more like a ball than a flat tyre. (Maybe somebody ate all the delicious liver and other intestines when I was not watching and that is why I got such a flat Haggis?) 

- Flat or not, I do recommend this recipe, especially if you are a Nutella fan! Just leave out the Scottish flag.